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Dolci and Garbanzos

Expert advice on how to eat and shop in Rome: don’t bargain, don’t touch before you buy, and be true to your vendor.

By

Eugenia Bone

May 15, 2015 3:39 p.m. ET

On a recent trip to Italy I sat at a table next to an elderly German couple. They didn’t notice how their waiter rolled his eyes when they ordered an insalata mista at the start of the meal, and then again when they ordered cappuccino at the end, but I did, and was relieved to have escaped that particular humiliation. I knew that in Italy salad is eaten after the meal, and never an insalata mista, which is tourist fare. I also knew not to order a cappuccino. It’s like finishing dinner with a cup of hot foamy milk. I knew these things because my parents hauled our family to Rome in 1972 for a year, and it imprinted...